William Kent Krueger, Author
In late spring, a beautiful 20th anniversary edition of Iron Lake, with a totally new cover, will be released by Atria Books, and will include a bonus Cork O'Connor short story. William Kent Krueger's journey began with Iron Lake, and it's a work that still makes him proud. His greatest joy in this coming year will be the release this fall of "This Tender Land", the companion novel to "Ordinary Grace". He has been at work on the manuscript for three years, and is deeply in love with it. Set in southern Minnesota in the summer of 1932, well into the Great Depression, it's the story of four orphans running from the law because they've committed a terrible crime, but for the all the right reasons. A manhunt has been launched to capture them, so they can't take to the roads. They're afraid to ride the rails, as everyone was doing in the Depression, because the railroads were patrolled by men called bulls, private police who had a reputation for incredible cruelty. They choose instead to take to the rivers. They canoe a river called the Gilead to the Minnesota River, follow the Minnesota to the Mississippi, and their intent is to canoe the Mississippi all the way to Saint Louis, where they believe they have family and will be safe. WKK has always wanted to write an updated version of Huckleberry Finn and this is it.
72 participated
As a result of the William Kent Krueger's author talk, patrons may get interested in reading his books or reading his newest books. Patrons may learn about some Native American customs and culture, as well as history. Patrons will enjoy hearing from a Minnesota author. Patrons will enjoy hearing about William Kent Krueger's writing process, how he comes up with his ideas, and how he gets them down on paper or computer. Anecdotal responses will be collected.
As a result of the William Kent Krueger author talk, patrons learned how Kent does his writing, where his ideas and characters come from, how he became a writer, and what his future plans are for books. Patrons learned a bit about history as it pertained to WKK's writing and storytelling.
Redwood Falls Friends of the Library, KLGR Radio, Redwood Gazette